Kenny Malone

the Sasquatches in our hearts.

Is that nice?

You're the best.

That's what we mean to say.

Hey, Erica, do you mind, will you just, would you sell me that Sasquatch over there in your hand?

Oh my God, that's the other reason I like sell me a Sasquatch.

It's totally Chewbacca-ing me.

Interesting.

This is Planet Money from NPR.

A case in point, a huge meeting last week at the White House.

But Trump appeared to be looking out into the crowd for one company in particular.

Where's Chevron, he asks.

Chevron was there when that oil money transformed Venezuela into the first petrostate and transformed Caracas into a gilded global capital.

And so in that White House room full of the most powerful oil executives on the planet, Trump singled out Chevron's executives.

Pretty sure Chevron did make money and are pretty well positioned to keep making it.

Hello and welcome to Planet Money.

I'm Kenny Malone.

Today on the show, before Saudi Arabia, before Iran, there was Venezuela, the first petrostate, the first country whose entire economy became dependent on oil.

And with that blessing, an entire economic textbook of complications opened up, from the Dutch disease to the resource curse to mono-economic vulnerability.

Yeah, even if they got seated pretty far from the president at the White House.